


Talking in Circles

by Jellyneau



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 09:25:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5962273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellyneau/pseuds/Jellyneau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We were both drunk and our friends ditched us and we were wandering around campus by ourselves at 1 am and ran into each other at a gazebo and I don’t know you at all but this seems like a good time to have a conversation about the meaning of life.” Doctor/Rose AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talking in Circles

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little gift for @ktrosesworld who once dared me to write fluff. I found this prompt on Tumblr ages ago and found myself itching for a distraction from my longer fic. So here it is! This is my first ever one-shot, first ever completely fluffy fic, and first ever Teen rated work. Hope you like!

  
[](http://s1057.photobucket.com/user/Jellyneau/media/Fic%20cover%20pics/Talking%20in%20Circles_zpsp1jkc8fx.jpg.html)

### 

Rose stumbled down the walk away from the party she and Shareen had decided would be a ‘good time’. Pfffft. Good time. Right. 

The air was cool. No. Cold. It was cold. Which was actually a blessing, because it made her swirling mind focus on something other than the threatening nausea. Fuck. How much beer did she actually drink, anyway? Seven? Ten? Eleventy-seven? Ha ha ha ha!!! Eleventy-seven. That really was the funniest number ever. Her little brother Tony had come up with it as the next logical one after seventeen. There needed to be more numbers with ‘eleventy’ in them, she decided.

Looking about, she tried to get her bearings. Okay. Her flat was… that way. Straightening up, she headed in the direction she assumed led to her place. 

The campus was quiet, but not dead, as it was a Saturday night and she wasn’t the only one walking home at this hour. Whatever hour it was. Rose grinned. Elven… no. El _ev_ enty-seven o’clock. Ha ha ha!!! Now there was a good use of the word eleventy, she reasoned. But when would it fit in the day?

She pondered that for a while before looking up at the rolling scene before her. She suspected the scene wasn’t actually rolling, however, There was a good chance her brain was what was rolling. Fuck. Why did she drink so much again? 

Oh yeah. Jimmy Sown. NO. Stone. Jimmy Stone. “Prick,” she heard herself say as she trundled further down the sidewalk. “Prickity-prickhead,” she elaborated. 

Fuck. How long had she been walking? Where the hell was she? And where the hell was Shareen? Oh yeah. She’d friggin’ abandoned her at that house. What kind of friend did that? 

The kind that had a chance to get laid. Right. That kind. Rose sighed. She supposed she couldn’t blame her mate. If _she_ had to hang out with herself tonight she’d be looking for better company. 

In fact, that’s what she was gonna do. Find better company. Maybe she’d head to the pub by her flat and find someone to chat with. Not shag. Just chat. No shagging. It led to one-night stands and Rose was NOT going to do that tonight. Nope. 

Looking around, she found she’d wandered toward the library. The library? Her flat wasn’t near the library. Oh my god. She’d walked in a massive circle. A big bloody stupid drunken circle. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she spotted a police car driving by. Maybe she should flag them down. They’d know where she lives. They certainly seemed to know… other things. They could give her directions back to her flat, surely. Better than walking in circles. Oi… if they followed her, she would be walking in _cop_ circles! Ha ha ha ha haaaaa!!!

Grinning like a loon, she smacked her lips together to try to recall what she was doing. Oh yeah. Cops. No. Chatting. That’s right. She wanted to find better company than her pathetic self at the moment. Then again… maybe that wasn’t the best idea. Maybe she should just head home. Spinning around to face in the opposite direction, she immediately regretted it. The world kept spinning even once her body had stopped moving. Hmmm. Maybe she should just… sit for a minute. Get her bearings. 

Looking about, she spied a gazebo sitting unoccupied just off the path to the side of the library. Weaving her way toward it, she climbed the couple of stairs up to the platform and plonked herself down on the bench lining its circumf… circumferat… outside walls. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back. 

And immediately regretted it.

The world weaved and dipped madly, making her almost frantically open her eyes and sit straight up. A swooping feeling made her stomach tighten. No. She was _not_ going to be sick. Jimmy might have led her to this, but she was _not_ going to give him the satisfaction of hearing she’d heaved her guts up in gazebo of the bloody campus library. 

“You okay?” a man’s voice interrupted her rather important self pep-talk. 

Looking up, she found a… bloke. Wow. He was tall. Momentarily forgetting her nausea, she smiled up at him. “‘M fine. Fantastic, actually,” she affirmed.

“Really?” he said, sounding unsure. 

Thinking about it, she revised her answer. “No. Actually… you’re right. I’m definitely not fantastic,” she clarified. “I’m… unfantasitc.”

“Mind if I sit?” he asked. 

“Be my guest,” she said, gesturing toward the bench beside her. In the light of the street lamp just outside the gabezo… ga _ze_ bo… she easily made out his hair was brown and sexily tousled. “I like your hair,” she said once he was seated. Might as well say it. She should say _more_ things she figured. “It goes with your… face,” she added truthfully. And it did. He had a great face.

“That’s good. Sometimes it doesn’t. Go with my face, I mean. At least… that’s what my flatmate says,” he said matter-of-factly, slurring his words slightly. “Okay - he doesn’t really say that. I made that up. But he might some day...” he trailed off.

“Wait. Are you… did you have a drink tonight?” Rose asked, squinting her eyes at him in hopes she’d better be able to see his pupils. No luck. Maybe she should ask him to look up at the light. 

“Did I?” he said, surprised. Then, thinking, he said, “I did. Yup. And now that I think of it, and if I’m honest… and I am…” he pointed out emphatically, “I had a _lot_ of drinks,” he confirmed. 

“Me too,” she said, grinning widely. “Oi… we have something in common,” she said with some enthusiasm. 

An extremely attractive toothy grin flashed back at her. “I guess we do! Look at that! Ha!” he said turning more toward her. Taking a breath, maybe in an effort to try to articulate better, he blinked slowly and said, “I’m the Doctor. Weeellll… my friends call me the Doctor. My name isn’t ‘the Doctor’, obviously. What sort of parents would I have if they’d actually named me that?” he said, shaking his head. “Still, I suppose ‘the Doctor’ would be better than, say, ‘Gaylord’. Or ‘Dick’,” he reasoned. 

“Dick,” Rose echoed, giggling afterward. 

“Yeah. So what’s your name, then?” he asked.

“My name is Rose. You know… like the flower,” she clarified, trying to focus on his eyes. 

“Really? That’s a lovely name. Rooooooose,” he drawled. “Yup. Nice,” he affirmed.

“So what are you doin’ out here, all… drunk?” she asked.

“My mates took me out for a celebratory beverage or ten,” 

“Or eleventy-seven,” Rose giggled.

“What?” he said, a confused grin finding his attractive features.

“Nothin’. Sorry. You were sayin’?” she said, trying once again to focus on what he was talking about. 

“Anyway, we’d all had a few, and I had to use the loo, so I did,” he said, throwing his hands up in disbelief.

“And…”

“What?” he asked, his brows furrowed adorably.

“And what happened? You went to the loo and what happened?” Rose asked.

His face scrunched into something like distaste. “Well, that’s a bit personal,” he stated.

Rose laughed. “No! I mean, _after_ you were in the loo,” she clarified.

“Oh yeah! Well… I might have been in there for a few minutes. You know… splashing water on your face. _My_ face.” He stopped for a moment considering what he’d just said. “Would be a bit presumptuous of me to splash water on _your_ face, wouldn’t it? I suspect I’d nursing a swollen jaw right now if I had. Anyway… what was I saying?” he asked, looking to her for clarification.

“After the loo.”

“Right. So, I finished in the loo and I came back out… and they’d all left! I went back to our table and they’d all scampered. Mind you… I’m not sure, but I think they may have told me they were leaving before I went to splash my face and do… bathroom things. Can’t be sure about that, though,” he shared.

Rose thought he said more words, but she didn’t hear them. There was something on his… “You have freckles,” she observed leaning close to him, examining the smattering of specks across the bridge of his nose. He had a sexy nose.

Seemingly unperturbed by her sudden change of topic, he stopped for a moment and considered her words. Finally, they seemed to sink in. “Freckles? Oh… yeah, I do,” he agreed. Staring back at her, he squinted his eyes as well and moved in a bit closer. “You don’t.”

“That’s true. Hey - that’s something else we have in common!” she said. “You have freckles… and I really _like_ freckles!” she explained.

Nodding, he seemed to consider this. “You know what? I think… I bet we have other things in common as well,” he ventured. “Like… you probably sleep at night. Now, I have to admit, that I don’t sleep much, but I _do_ sleep at night as well,” he said. “You probably eat food occasionally too, right?” he said, checking in.

Rose laughed. “I do, akshally,” she slurred, despite trying valiantly to sound a bit less drunk than she was.

“See! We’re practically related!” he enthused.

“Oh, I hope not,” she said honestly. “Otherwise it would be, like, incest or something,” she decided.

“Wait. What would?” he asked, confused.

“This,” she said, before leaning in to place a soft kiss on his lips. He smelled delicious. Pulling back only slightly, Rose smiled goofily up at him. Actually, she hoped it was more ‘sexy’ than goofy, but she wasn’t banking on it. 

“Oh. Right. That. Weelll, that _would_ be awkward if we were actually related,” he agreed, his breath mingling with hers in the cool air. “Uh… I suppose this would probably be pretty much out of bounds if we were related as well,” he added, dipping his head to more firmly snog her. His lips were soft and he tasted… like wine. Feeling his arms wrap around her, she reciprocated by moving her hands up to cup the sides of his face. He had a great face. And lips. 

Finally, needing air, they parted and leaned back a bit from each other. Panting a bit with the aroused exertion, Rose touched her fingers to her mouth and smiled. “I’ve never done that before.”

“What? Snogged? Really?” he said, looking impressed. “Well you’re bloody good at it for never having done it before,” he affirmed.

Rose laughed. “No! I mean… I’ve never just… snogged someone I didn’t know before,” she explained. 

“Oh! Yeah, right. Well, me neither, to be honest,” he said, grinning inanely.

Wait. She was gonna say something, but… “What were we talking about?” she asked, the subject now completely gone.

“No idea. Wait. Relatives,” he said surely. 

“Relatives. I have some,” she shared. “A mum. A dad. A Tony. That’s about it.” 

“What’s a ‘Tony’?” he asked.

Laughing at his confused expression, she said, “He’s my brother, you plum. Do you have any?”

“Brothers? Nah. On my own, actually. it’s just me. My mum and dad passed,” he answered. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said, feeling the subject sober her a tiny bit. 

“Yeah. Still… I’ve got a great flatmate. Jack. Jackity-Jack. And I’ve sort of adopted his family, really, so it’s good,” he affirmed. 

“That’s good,” she said. “What about a firlfriend… _girl_ friend,” she amended. “I just thought, since we’ve already decided we can’t be related, an’ all…”

“No,” he laughed. “No girlfriend. I’m currently recruiting for the position, however,” he smiled widely.

“Really?” she said, her tongue touching her teeth in a coy grin. “What does one needtodoto apply?” she said, mashing the words together. 

“Weeellll,” he started, seemingly considering. “Normally I take applications from women I meet when I’m sober,” he began. “But that hasn’t panned out well lately,” he said. “So I’m trying a new tactic.”

“Really? So you have to be inebbra... inebriated to apply, then?” she asked, intrigued. 

“Yup!” he agreed.

“Well then… I’m a perfect candidate. I’d like to apply,” she said, pulling him in by the lapels of his jacket to push her lips to his. 

“Mmmm,” he hummed as she snogged him soundly. Pulling back then, he said, “I should warn you, though… I’m a lot more talkative when I’m not drunk. So I’m told. I wonder if that’s why my mates try to get me to drink so often,” he pondered, his brows furrowed.

She was about to pull him back down to her lips when he suddenly pulled back again. “Wait. There’s one more thing,” he said seriously. “I only take applications from serious applicants. I don’t want to take someone on in the position and find out they actually were already filling another position. You know… like for another company,” he warned.

Blinking, Rose looked up at him. He looked concerned. “I’m sorry… you lost me. I’m usually… I’m not usually thick or anythin’, but at the moment I’m having trouble. What are you talking about?” she asked.

“What I meant was… the actual girlfriend position is available, but… I’d rather be with someone who isn’t just wanting to shag my brains out and then leave me hanging,” he explained, “for, say… someone else,” he added for good measure.

Rose considered him for a moment. “Well, I think you’re pretty safe if I apply,” she assured him. “An’ just so you know… I never do this, yeah? Jus’ - snog random blokes. Wait. I think I said that already, didn’t I?”

“Mmm-hmm,” he agreed helpfully.

“It’s jus’... I don’t want you to get the wrong idea here,” she added seriously. “But I’ll tell you what,” she said, patting his hand in emphasis. “How about we give this a trial run, yeah? To prove I’m not just a ‘snog ‘em in the gazebo and leave ‘em’ kind of girl,” she clarified. “And I can make sure you’re serious about offering a position like that. I’m… I’m sort of a bit gunshy right now. My boyfriend… he dumped me a few days ago. Well, I say he dumped me. What I mean is, I caught him with another woman,” she clarified. “So technically, I left,” she said. 

“Oh. I’m sorry,” he said, seemingly meaning it. “The guy is clearly a jackass,” he reasoned. 

“Yeah. He’s an arse,” she confirmed. 

“Okay. Trial run then. If you like the position, and…” he paused to hiccup, “... and you want to stay on, we can decide on a salary.”

“A salary?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’m willing to compensate my girlfriend by providing unlimited access to my body ANY time of the day or night,” he explained. “No one can say I’m not willing to give of myself,” he smiled. 

“Okay,” she said, biting her lip with a flirty grin. “But before I decide to take the position permanently…” she leaned in close to his ear and whispered seductively, “I’d like to make sure there’s a decent benefits package.” 

He swallowed thickly as her lips met the skin just under his ear. “Uhhh… yeah. Benefits. Yeah. Big benefits,” he confirmed.

Rose laughed. “Well then. Shall we find out if we’re compatible?” she said, pulling back and taking his hand. 

“Er… yeah. Definitely,” he agreed. They both stood unsteadily then, grasping each other’s hands tightly for balance. 

Rose looked around. “I think my flat is that way,” she said, pointing in the direction she vaguely recalled walking before she ended up here. 

“Mine’s this way,” he said, gently tugging her in his direction. Giggling, Rose, followed. 

“What’s so funny?” he grinned back at her as they walked. 

“I just realized… I’ve never become someone’s girlfriend while I was drunk before. I hope you don’t regret this in the morning,” she added. 

“The only thing I’d regret in the morning is if I hadn’t talked to you tonight,” he said surely. “I’m pretty sure we were supposed to meet. You know… like if we hadn’t, the world might not have gone on. Like… monsters from another dimension might’ve decimated the planet if we hadn’t both gotten sodden drunk tonight and ended up snogging in a circular wooden shelter,” he added for good measure.

“Wow. That’s deep,” she confirmed. “So you’re sayin’ that we basically saved the planet by snogging in a gazebo?” she clarified as they stumbled forward, hand in hand. 

“Mmm-hmm,” he agreed, smiling happily as he seemed to consider it.

Rose grinned at his assessment. “You think they’ll write history books about us, then? About how we saved the world?”

“I think we'll be… the stuff of legends,” he affirmed.


End file.
